The Editor, Sir:

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is currently closing consultations for the recent request by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) for a 22 per cent hike in rates on the non-fuel component of a customer's bill.

I find this request, in a world where everything is on the decline, and in particular in Jamaica where consumers have been paying way too much for the energy supplied by JPS, to be heartless.

For too long, Jamaican consumers have been asked to pay for the company's inefficiencies and scant regard for the rights and privileges of every Jamaican citizen.

What the OUR and JPS have failed to point out is that the request for a 22 per cent increase is not the only amount consumers will be forced to pay. Have we forgotten that fuel and independent power producers (IPP) charges are a 100 per cent pass-through to customers? So, outside of the 22 per cent being requested, should oil prices go back to $100 and more as the trend has now started to suggest as the world economy stabilises, based on current prices, an increase to $100 in oil prices would see consumers possibly paying an additional 45 per cent on top of the 22 per cent being asked for.

To put it in simple terms, a consumer's bill that averages $10,000 would move to an average of $17,000. This is downright wrong.

JPS's lack of efficiency has been the main reason for the company having incurred the huge costs it now bears and which we are being asked to pay.

Why can't JPS employees take a 10 per cent cut in salary and benefits?

When one analyses the wage bill for JPS, it's ridiculously high. Compounding that fact is the recent IDT adjustments which saw an overall increase in salaries across the board of about 35 per cent just last year. That was on top of the large salaries that are already being paid to employees.

Among highest paid

JPS employees are currently classified among the highest paid in the country even though this is not matched on the productivity scale. For example, someone classified as a supervisor earns in excess of $6 million as a package and there are senior management personnel whose average package is about $9 million.

Jamaicans must resist all demands to pay more for electricity. The company can get its increase internally without having to come to the Jamaican public.

JPS has said that if the increase is not granted then future generation expansion will be affected. This is the most ridiculous and irresponsible statement I have ever heard. JPS can easily borrow the money it needs to do its expansion plans. Its debt to equity ratio is very low at 37:63, so it makes sense for the company to leverage some more. Additionally, debt is cheaper than equity due to the tax deductibility of interest.

I am, etc.,

JOHN WAYNE

johnwayne@yahoo.com

Kingston 10